


Hungry

by shnuffeluv



Category: Original Work
Genre: Blow Jobs, Cooking, Eating Disorders, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Food Issues, Magical Boys, Mental Health Issues, Sexual Content, Superheroes, Supervillains, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Fisting, Villains Who Care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:13:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27869742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/shnuffeluv
Summary: She needed to make sure he was okay. She had seen the signs, now Bea needed to capture Sir Hightail and make sure he wasn't starving himself to death on her watch.
Relationships: Harvey/Bea
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7
Collections: Heart Attack Exchange 2020





	Hungry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Piinutbutter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piinutbutter/gifts).



She saw it happening before her eyes. She hated to admit it, but she saw the signs long before anyone else did. No one else cared about her nemesis, it seemed. Not enough to do anything about it, anyway. It started with him retreating in on himself, little by little. Everyone always thanked him when she was defeated for the time being, and he would always do things for his fans, signing fanmade creations or taking pictures or doing interviews. He always tried so hard. She could tell that he didn't get enough attention in his regular life.

But then he stopped doing it as much. When she was carted off he would make his excuses. His smile was far more forced in pictures. He would sign the creations and look like he might cry at seeing them, a picture of open adoration for him. An unhealthy fixation on it. And after a while, a desire to destroy them. Too-tight grips on fabric or a pen. Everything seemed to hurt him more and more.

And then, the suit was getting smaller.

She noticed after a few battles that the clothes that once fit him perfectly seemed ever-so-slightly looser. Not enough to be alarming. And then, during the next battle, it fit perfectly again. But she did a scan. And the thread count was smaller than before. He had been losing weight, rapidly it would seem.

But this was a tricky position to put her in. She wasn't sure if it was her place. She was his nemesis, after all. There had to be some line there that he didn't want crossed.

And yet. And yet no one in his mundane life noticed? No one was going to question the fact that he claimed he was fine? No one would sit him down and say, "This is unhealthy, you need to eat"? Was he eating and then purging? To make everything seem fine? Or was he just eating alone, so no one would notice how little he picked at his food? She didn't know.

She wished she did.

Tonight was her next evil scheme. She wasn't planning to stream it. No. Usually she would, usually she would try and gain exposure to what she planned. Usually she wanted to unveil who her nemesis was. But she knew that tonight, if everything went as it was supposed to, she would expose him. And something told her that this was not an exposure he wanted broadcasted.

So she got ready. Donning her suit, making sure her minions were in place. That the devices she needed prepared were finished. And she got ready for the toughest battle she may ever have experienced in her life.

When she exited her lair and got onto the street, she knew that her nemesis wouldn't be long before he was in her face. But she could tell that he would lose this battle. She had been trying to go easier on him since she noticed the weight loss. And if she came at him with full force there was simply no way he could stop her. The people were fleeing the area the moment they caught sight of her. She got ready in the middle of the street, her robot army behind her. Everyone had vacated the local five block radius. And her hero was nowhere to be found. She pulled out her phone and checked the time. Half past seven. He should have been here by now. She had figured out he was a teenager based on when she could and couldn't see him and the local school's times. But she was after even all the extracurriculars should have ended, save for sporting events, and those weren't something he could participate in, not without her running facial recognition.

She sat in the middle of the road, playing games on her phone, just waiting. Twenty minutes later, the hero, her nemesis, stumbled into sight. And she did mean _stumbled._ He could hardly pick his feet off the ground, let alone stand up properly. "Ah, Miss Gearblender, I've been looking for you."

Standing up, she brushed the dirt off her pants. "Yeah. I've been waiting here. For half an hour."

"There was business I had to attend to first," the hero brushed off.

"Come off it, Sir Hightail, you look like you just exited a bar at closing time. The only business you could have been doing was laying passed out on the floor." He winced, hands reaching for his back. She blinked. "You _weren't_ passed out of the floor, were you?"

"O-of course not!" he said. Voice full of false bravado. Eyes looking up and to the left. Making up an excuse.

Lying.

"Right, you're coming with me," she said, offering no option for denial.

Sir Hightail squared his shoulders. "You'll have to come and take me yourself!" he exclaimed.

She shrugged her shoulders, striding forward. Her nemesis looked fully ready to fight her, but she grabbed his wrist, and it was more than small, it was _bony._ She dropped it in shock. "How much have you been eating lately?" she asked him.

"That is none of your business," he growled.

"Are you even fit to fight me?" she demanded.

"If I don't, who will?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes. He was dodging the question. "That's not an answer," she said, steel in her voice. "I'm going to ask you again. And if you lie to me, the consequences will not be pretty. Are you fit to fight me?"

"I'm always fit to fight you, Miss Gearblender," Sir Hightail responded.

She sighed. "Fine," she said, her tone showing just as much steel, now with a sharp point aimed at her nemesis. She raised her latest technological advancement, the tech that would be able to strip away his magical powers with one blast. She charged it fully and shot him before he even had time to blink. The blast knocked him backwards, and he was gasping like a fish out of water from the simple force. She shook her head. "You really should have thought this through, Sir Hightail," she purred.

In an instant, her minions had surrounded him and were carting him back to her lair. She didn't need to see who he was just yet. She was going to make sure he was fit to fight before she could gloat. After all, a fight this easy was hardly fair. And she was a villain with standards. She needed this to be a fair fight if she had any hope of feeling satisfied taking Sir Hightail down.

When she returned to her lair, she felt her brain sputter to a halt. Her minions had strapped Sir Hightail down, and he was struggling against his bindings. But she couldn't believe who she was seeing. The bony limbs, the slightly tousled hair, there was no mistake that he was the same person she had confronted in the streets. But he was...so young. He was a teenager. How the hell had a _teenager_ been thwarting her throughout the years? How had _several_ teenagers, those who used the same magic time and time again, put a stop to her plans? How was she supposed to wrap her brain around that?

She noticed him glowering at her, and she glanced away, realizing she had been staring. "Something on your mind, Miss Gearblender?" he spat.

"You're young," she responded, walking over and sitting down across from him. "You're too young to have to struggle with something of this magnitude."

"Plenty before me have dealt with the likes of you," he snapped back.

"I don't mean the supervillains," she said softly.

He turned red. "I'm fine," he said stubbornly. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"I would beg to differ," she said smoothly. "You're entirely too small for a young man of your age. Do you even realize the damage you're doing to yourself by refusing to eat?"

"I eat fine," he insisted. "And there's nothing wrong with me."

"Do you hear yourself right now?" she snapped. "Everyone looking at you could tell there was a problem if they _really_ looked. You're too thin. You're killing yourself. And damn it, Sir Hightail, that's supposed to be _my job,_ not yours!"

Her nemesis jut his chin out in challenge and she groaned. "I hate doing this," she said. "But you leave me no choice."

"What are you doing?" he asked her as she set up her phone.

She pressed record, ignoring him. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," she purred at the camera. "Today, I've decided to take some matters into my own hands. I've taken one of the smartest students among the local schools and I'm going to _break_ him. Good help is so hard to find these days, but hopefully, he'll be a more than willing participant soon enough." She stepped away from the camera, revealing the de-powered Sir Hightail. "Time for you to say any goodbyes you may have, dearie!"

"Let me go!" Sir Hightail snapped at her. "I'm not going to work with you!"

"We'll see about that," she said, stepping back into the camera frame. "Sir Hightail, since you've never quite found my evil lair, I don't expect you to find him. Enjoy living life knowing you failed to save this one!" She laughed and turned the camera off, turning around to face her nemesis.

He was staring at her. "What? But you know he's not... _I'm_ not...?"

"Well, it's hardly a fair fight to go up against you right now," she said with a shrug. "When you're back to being yourself we can see who's really the best and fastest of the two of us to reveal who the other is. Until then..." she took off her mask and sighed. "I'm going to be taking care of you, you complete and total dumbass. Don't even try and get away, because I've superpower-proofed this whole building. There's no way out for you, so you may as well get comfortable."

That did nothing to settle her nemesis. If anything, he was getting more agitated. "But why _me?"_ he asked, dumbfounded. "Why are you caring for _me?_ I'm your _arch-nemesis!"_

"Honey, I've had many arch-nemeses over the years," she informed him plainly. "Every time one of you grows out of the role, your magic finds another boy to fight against me. I've lost too many to these sorts of things to take them lightly. I _want_ to be able to fight you. I _want_ that push-and-pull relationship, the banter, the fighting. It's no fun if you can't fight your way to the top. This is for purely selfish reasons. I don't care about you, specifically. I care about the relationship. But this relationship will go nowhere fast if you're not going to take care of yourself when you need to. Understand? I'm making sure that you can handle this before we go any further."

He looked at her, trying to find any chink in her armor. She wouldn't let him find it. The pain over the years that she had felt...knowing she could have saved her past nemeses if only she had stopped to read the writing on the wall...it was why she made sure she wasn't going to lose this one again. "And it's only so we can have a fair fight," he said.

"Of course, darling," she said. "After all, what would a supervillain _be_ without her arch-nemesis?"

"A winner?" he asked doubtfully.

She scoffed. "Someone not worthy of the win, if you ask me," she said, picking imaginary lint off her shoulders. She walked over to him and undid his bindings. "Come along, dear, we need to find something that you can actually stand to eat."

He stared at her uncomprehendingly, and she turned towards him, sighing. "What?"

"Why would you feed me?" he asked.

"Why would I feed a prisoner who's ultimately going to help me build an army of robots? You're right, I should let him starve himself to death and get nowhere fast and just dispose the body elsewhere," she scoffed.

He offered her a weak smile and a sniff of a laugh. She offered him an encouraging smile back. "Now. I know you probably don't want to eat anything too big. But can I persuade you to have a sandwich? One slice of meat and one piece of cheese on plain bread. That's all I ask of you right now."

The smile vanished. She closed her eyes slowly and pinched the bridge of her nose. "This whole thing is a two-way street, darling. One sandwich. That's all I ask. You don't even need to have anything with it but water."

He nibbled his lip. "Do you promise?"

"A glass of water. That's it," she said, making an 'x' over her heart.

More thinking. A sigh. "Fine," he allowed.

Well. That was a small victory, at least. "Good," she said. "Come on, in the kitchen. You can have your choice of meat and cheese, I have a few."

He followed her in and she opened the refrigerator for him. He hesitantly picked out a packet of turkey and some cheddar cheese. "Can we stick the bread in the toaster?" he asked hesitantly.

"Sure," she said, grabbing the bread off the counter and sticking two slices in the toaster. "Maybe tomorrow you can help me make breakfast?"

He turned a slight shade of green. "I'm not sure..." he said. Hesitancy was written all over his face as he wrung his fingers.

"Breakfast can be simple as toast for you," she said. "But I like company when I make breakfast for myself. And I usually have leftovers that the other party can try if they feel like it."

"But you don't force them to, right?" he asked.

"Of course not, Sir Hightail. I'm a villain, not a monster," she said with a smirk.

He looked down at the ground as she turned to grab the toast out of the toaster. "Harvey," he said. "My name's Harvey. And I'm not...I'm not some criminal mastermind like you said on the phone."

"I know," she laughed. "You don't have to be the smartest person around in order for the story to be believable. All that matters is that _they_ think that _I_ think you're valuable to me. Bullshit your explanations to the cops, if they ask you. Tie me up and gag me so the cops aren't questioning you in your magical costume and wondering where normal you went. I don't care. So long as I know you're going to take care of yourself when you get out of here. And...Harvey...you can call me Bea."

"Bea. Okay," Harvey said softly. "...Thank you. For at least...caring. Even if that care is somewhat misguided."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, now. You know that there's a problem here, don't you?"

"You kidnapped me, so yes, I'd say there's _a_ problem here," he said, taking a bite out of the sandwich she passed him. He looked like he might be sick as he choked it down, but he made the attempt, which she appreciated. "But _I_ am not it."

"We'll work on that," she sighed. "For now, you need to eat, and then it's off to bed with you, understood?"

Harvey rolled his eyes and grumbled. "You're making me go to bed at ten o'clock?"

"Ten's plenty late for most people," she informed him. "You just don't know what a proper sleep schedule is."

"Does any teenager?" he asked her with a cheeky grin that made her stomach flip. In another life, were he a few years older, she could see herself fancying him.

"Just shut up and go to bed, Harvey," she told him. "Do I need to confiscate your phone or can I trust you not to contact anyone at home to let them know you're not actually kidnapped?"

Harvey turned light pink. "At home won't be a problem," he said softly. "I...I have a couple online friends...though...we were doing a weight loss competition..."

She felt sick to her stomach. "You lost all that weight for a contest among 'friends'?" she asked.

"No. I...I got really sick, one night, and after that, food just...made me feel sick all over again. And then I meet these people, who also didn't eat as much as most people wanted them to, and we...bonded over that, you know? But then they decided to hold a contest to see who could eat the least...and I wasn't like them, I didn't count the calories or anything, I just...didn't. Eat. At all."

She forced herself to breathe. "These people aren't good for you, Harvey, if they're encouraging you to not eat."

"I...I mean...they really _are_ good people...other than that, at least..."

"But they're causing you to hurt. There's no excuse for that," she informed him. "Give me your phone. I don't want you talking to them and them shaming you for giving up on their little 'contest.'"

The fact that Harvey didn't even protest, just shamefully passed his unlocked phone over to her gave her hope. Maybe she could save this one after all. She hoped so.

She deleted the app he spoke to those friends on, and kept the phone on her as Harvey finished his food, and then shuffled off to bed. She sighed. When he "finished" his food, he only ate half the sandwich. She ate the other half, reluctantly, and resolved that tomorrow, she'd try to get him to eat a little more. Not so much that he would get sick, but enough that he would get a little more weight on his bones. She was worried. He felt even worse than he looked when she had grabbed him earlier, and she wasn't quite sure what she had gotten herself into. She knew that ultimately, it would be worth it, but she knew that it was going to be an uphill battle.

That night, she forced herself to sleep, but her nightmares were plagued with the boys before. The ones who had escaped her grasp but were traumatized after, the ones who hadn't and had gone insane, and the one she could have saved if she had tried a little harder. Her first. "Please!" she begged. "Please let me help you! It's not too late!" She was crying. She always cried during these dreams. She hated it but it was bound to happen sometime during this whole fiasco. Might as well start it off early.

The boy stared at her blankly, not saying anything. Not that he ever did in these dreams. She ran towards him, desperate to help. But the arms of the others to follow him were holding her back. "No! Please! Please!" she cried. "I have to help him! Let me go! Please!"

The arms, surprisingly, did as told. She rushed forward, eager to help the boy who she had hurt so much in the past without realizing it. But when she got to him, he started dissolving into dust. "No...no..." she moaned. "No, you can't do this to me! Please!"

He continued to leave her, at an alarming rate. She was crying again. "No, no! Henry, please, you can't do this to me! Please!"

But her cries went unanswered. The arms were pulling her away from the remains of his body, emaciated and limp on the ground as his soul had left it. She cried harder, fighting against the arms, but it was no use. They pulled her into the darkness, doomed to be alone forever.

When she woke up, it was early morning. She rubbed her eyes and stretched, forcing herself to get up despite wanting to do anything else. She had a guest, after all, and she had to make sure this one wasn't like Henry wound up being.

She walked out after doing her hair up in a sloppy ponytail and called herself ready. She really didn't feel like going all out today, and it didn't really matter either, considering that she would probably be in a worse state than Harvey after last night no matter what she did.

And considering how Harvey did a double-take when he saw her, she reckoned that she was right. "Morning," she sighed. "Are you ready to help me make breakfast?" she asked.

"You look terrible, did you sleep at all?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she said, stretching her arms and causing them to pop. "You ready for a little bit of a cooking lesson or not?"

"I'll help, yeah," he said, looking her over. "God, do you ever sleep? I thought the dark circles under your eyes when we fought was makeup."

"I do sleep, yeah," she said. "I just don't sleep well. With me in the kitchen, please."

Harvey followed her and she shook her head subtly. She couldn't believe that he was concerned about _her,_ when _he_ was the one slowly dying. Honestly, the nerve of heroes! They cared about everyone except themselves, it was ridiculous! "Grab a pan from under the stove, will you dear?" she asked.

Harvey did as told and she grabbed some eggs from the refrigerator and the oil that had the least calories in it she knew of, in the hopes that Harvey would be more willing to eat what she made if she used it. "All right. Do you know how to fry eggs?" she asked.

"Not really," Harvey said.

"Well, it's pretty easy. I can teach you," she said, putting everything down on the counter next to the stove. "First, you grease up the pan with a little oil. Not too much, or it'll spit at you when cooking."

Harvey put a little oil on the pan and swirled it around. "I've watched my mom do this before," he said simply at her questioning look.

She nodded. "Okay. Then, you crack the egg, straight into the pan. Try not to get the eggshell in there, I don't like crunchy eggs."

"This is for you?" he asked. "Then why don't you cook it?"

"Everyone needs to know how to eat eventually, Harvey," she said. "You'll go off into college in a few years and you'll thank me for not forcing you to eat in the cafeteria every day because you don't know how to cook."

Harvey scoffed.

"Besides, the cafeteria food is full of grease and things like that. It's easy to make you sick on it," she said casually.

Harvey didn't scoff at that, just grew quiet as he cracked the eggs and dropped them into the pan.

"Now we wait for the eggs to stop cooking at the edges," she told him. "There won't be any more bubbles in it after that. You'll want to flip them at that point."

They watched the eggs together, and she passed him a spatula when she saw they were ready. "Time to flip," she told him.

The startled sound he made told her he didn't know the first thing about flipping eggs.

"Here," she said, putting her hand over his on the spatula. "Just slide the spatula under quickly...just like this...and then flip it over just as fast. See? There you go!"

His hand was bony, but she tried not to let it show that it scared her. She needed him calm, not on the defensive. She grabbed a couple spices and put a dash of each on the eggs. Harvey sniffed and sighed. "That smells heavenly," he admitted.

"You can have some, if you want," she offered. "After all, you _can_ have toast for breakfast, but I doubt it would taste as good, even _with_ whatever you put on it."

Harvey was salivating looking at the eggs, and she knew she had scored. She wouldn't comment on how much he did or didn't eat of it, because that was sure to end in a fight, but she figured that if she let him take however much of the eggs he wanted, then he might eat a little more than expected.

"I can make the next egg myself, if you want to make your toast," she said dismissively, waving him off.

She didn't fail to notice that when he slid the fried egg onto a plate, he casually took the whole thing with him as he went in search of bread. She smiled. That was an easy score!

As she made her own eggs, Harvey came over and sat on the counter. "Are you okay? Be honest," he asked.

"I'm fine," she said. "Why?"

"I could hear you whimpering in your sleep last night through the walls," he said. "And either the walls are really thin, or you had really bad sleep last night."

She grew quiet. She knew what he wanted to hear. But she wasn't sure she was ready to say it. But she had been through therapy over it before. She knew that she would never be truly ready, and the least she could do was give him an explanation of what was going on with her. Despite everything, she wanted him to know that she wasn't going to turn on him in the middle of the night. "There was a boy," she said. "I liked him a lot, when I was young. He didn't do a whole lot that made me like him, he was just the kind of person I enjoyed being around, and that was enough." She paused. "His name was Henry."

"Was? I'm..." Harvey swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," she said softly. She sniffed and looked up at the ceiling. "He was a bit like you, actually. Stupidly brave, considering circumstances. We went down two different paths in our careers. He wound up being a hero, and I was a villain. We didn't know at the time that we weren't anything more than friends, though. I didn't realize his identity until...a while after.

"He didn't eat much. Just little meals here and there, and he didn't like being forced to eat anything he didn't consider himself. In one specific instance, his parents tried to stage an intervention and he came to live with me instead, in the hopes that I wouldn't force him to eat like they were trying to.

"And I didn't." She stopped. Took a breath. "I tried to get him to eat here and there, and he would. But it wasn't enough. He would keep from passing out, and that was it. One day...one day I came home from being a supervillain. I was a freshman in college, and I had a paper due the next day. My hero nemesis at the time hadn't shown up and I decided the world could wait to be taken over until tomorrow. I came home, and called for him and...he didn't respond." She sniffled. "I thought he wasn't home. I got to his room, and opened the door and..." She couldn't finish.

Harvey was pale as a ghost, staring wide-eyed at her. "How did he die?" he asked.

She sniffled again, and a few tears slipped out. "He had starved himself to death. I thought that he was getting better. He had just gotten better at hiding the fact he wasn't eating," she shook her head. "I refuse to let that happen again. I don't care if we're nemeses or not, Harvey, I'm not letting you go like he did. It was painful, and slow, and it destroyed me, because _I could have helped him._ I saw the signs. And I blatantly ignored them, because I figured that he could handle it on his own. And he couldn't. He couldn't handle it on his own and because I believed that he would see sense on his own, when what he was going through was a _mental illness,_ literally changing the entire way he thought, that he would get better and I let him down...I let him down by not doing my research and I let him suffer on his own for too long."

By this time, Harvey was inching towards her, hugging her tight when he got close enough. She wrapped her arms around him and cried, harder and harder until she thought she might get sick. She had never told anyone the whole of the story. How she blamed herself every step of the way. She had underestimated the damage that a mental illness could do, and Henry had paid the price for it.

When her sobs had died down to hiccups, Harvey took a step back. "Do you still talk to his parents?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "They blamed me for the whole affair, and rightfully so," she admitted softly. "I don't think they'll ever forgive me after what I did to their son."

"You didn't know," he said. "You were a teen yourself. Eighteen years old may technically be an adult, but you were trying to take care of yourself as well as someone who was sick. That's not fair on you."

She wiped her tears away and shook her head. "I let him kill himself," she choked out.

"I think you did the right thing, trying to get him to eat," Harvey said. "If he didn't want to, no amount of forcing would have changed his mind. In fact, he might have run away from you and refused to return to either his parents _or_ you if you had tried to get him to do more. And for what it's worth..." he turned a slight pink. "I think he would be proud of you for trying to help me."

"Even if you don't need help?" she said, the words bitter on her tongue.

Harvey grew quiet. "I know I need help," he said softly. "I'm just too proud to accept it."

She sighed. "I know the feeling," she said. "But a mental illness isn't a weakness. The fact that you're even admitting there's a problem is a great step forward. I hope you understand that."

He looked at her and nodded with a weak smile. "Is it...is it okay if I have all of that egg this morning?"

"Go ahead, darling, I usually only eat one anyway," she said.

He looked at her in shock, and then laughed. "You're an asshole," he informed her.

"Of course I am, darling, that's part of my charm!" she said, throwing him a wink.

He blushed and went to the table, grabbing his plate and a fork along the way.

She made her egg quickly and went over to sit with him "I trust you won't tell anyone what I told you this morning?" she said.

"Of course not," he said. "I'm a hero, not a monster. I'll take that secret to my grave."

She smiled, saying, "You know, that expression doesn't work quite as well for heroes as it does for villains."

"I know," he sighed. "One of these days, I'll find a good catchphrase. But today is not that day."

She shook her head. "In my experience, you hero types never find that catchphrase when you're doing your stint as a teen hero. If you get to be a hero in adulthood, well, that's a different story. But just one or two years? Is not long enough to find a catchphrase."

"And you know about that so well," he scoffed. "I've only ever seen people with my specific lineage fight you. And that lineage only chooses teens."

"Well, that's good to know," she said, filing that away for later. "But everyone who I've talked to on my side has varied experiences. Some of them have heroes that they fight with consistent phrases, some of them know the identities of their nemeses but don't just show up in the middle of the day to fight them. After all, a villain has to have _some_ respect for the game."

Harvey rested his chin on the table. "I hope you don't mind me being here too much," he said.

"Darling, I kidnapped you. I wouldn't have done that if I thought that I couldn't handle you, understood?" she asked.

He nodded, turning a slight pink again. "All right," he said.

* * *

She was conflicted. It was obvious for anyone to see that over the past week they had gotten close. Harvey was putting on weight nicely, the muscles in his arms coming back, more defined. His body was still lean, but he no longer looked quite as emaciated as he used to. She was watching the TV in her room, boredly watching Harvey's parents plea for him to come back, for her to return him. Her lip curled in disgust. They didn't even realize that he was killing himself; why should she give him back?

Turning off the TV angrily, she turned back to her problem. Harvey. It was obvious to her that he liked her. And it would be so easy, so quick to take advantage of that. She didn't want to take advantage of it, but she couldn't deny seeing pieces of Henry in him, parts that made her heart flutter or her stomach flip. She didn't want to do anything that both of them would regret later down the line. And yet...and yet the thoughts wouldn't leave her mind. Of infatuation. Of love. Of desire.

She wanted this boy. She wanted him all to herself and to absolutely ruin him. She wanted him to be her mindless slave, hanging on her every word. The only thing that was stopping her was the fact that he was a teenager. He should be able to make his own decisions about life before he came to her. She was older than she would like to admit. She knew relationships like that would always have an imbalance. And yet. That was part of the allure. Sure, people who made their own choice to submit to her desires for a time were nice, but she could corrupt the only hero that stood tall against her. And she would be able to take over the city.

Hm...that sounded nice. The city, all hers, and her little pet Harvey would work for her. Oh, she loved the thought of that. She wanted to see that boy fall to his knees in front of her. She wanted him to do everything she wanted from him. A smile laced her lips. She wouldn't even need to get him drunk. Most guys her age wouldn't even look at her twice. But Harvey...young as he was, looked at her like she had hung the sun and moon. All because she made sure that he wasn't going to die.

Harvey knocked on her door and she looked over at him with a little, soft smile. "Hey," she said.

"You seemed deep in thought there a while," Harvey said, that boyish grin of his making her heart warm. "A boy on your mind, perhaps?"

She covered her mouth in an attempt to hide her laughter. "You could say that," she allowed.

Harvey still stood there, looking her over. She was wearing nothing but a two-piece pajama set. Not much more than a bra and boyshorts. She _had_ been planning on returning Harvey tomorrow...so it was now or never. "Thinking about you, actually," she said, turning back to the wall where the TV sat.

"Oh?" Harvey laughed. "And here I thought you were fancying someone!"

"And what? I can't fancy you?" she asked, standing from the bed and walking over.

Harvey looked surprised, and oh-so-adorably flustered. "What? But...I thought...you'd never..."

"You thought wrong," she said, pulling him into her bedroom and closing the door. She bit her lip. "You are such a good person, Harvey. Haven't you ever wondered what the other side might be like?"

Harvey fumbled. "I've...I've had sex before, Bea. But...I thought you were a lesbian. I saw you...kiss that other supervillain, and she was just...gorgeous. I'm just...me."

"I'm bisexual. I like women _and_ men. And have you looked in the mirror lately?" she asked, inspecting him with a hand on her chin. "You've gotten some muscle on you recently. You're adorably young, but old enough to make your own decisions."

"Well...yesterday was my eighteenth birthday," he said.

The knot in her stomach all but disappeared. "You should have told me," she said. "I would have helped you celebrate."

"Yeah? How?" Harvey asked.

"We could have gotten a cake...some wine...so long as you weren't driving no one could arrest you," she said. "And maybe after cake...we could have had seconds." She dragged her hands down her hips and Harvey followed the motion. "Most boys your age lose the magic one way or another. Wouldn't you rather lose it through mind-blowing sex than just waking up one day to find it gone?"

Harvey blinked. "It...leaves? Just like that?"

"You said yourself that it goes after teens," she pointed out. "You're a man now."

Harvey looked...sad. She tutted. "Harvey, don't you see? You could hold onto the past so hard it hurts and never lets you go even when you try, or you could come to bed with me, join my team, or just part on your own tomorrow. I won't make you stay if you don't want to..." She knew that he would never leave if she played her cards right, though.

"Was this all a scheme to get me to play your end?" Harvey asked, brows furrowing and a fire sparking behind his eyes.

"Oh, honey, no," she said, walking over and putting her hands on his arms. He stared at them, then at her, desperate for an understanding. She was happy to give it to him. "Harvey, darling. Listen to me. I wanted you healthy. And you're healthy. You know how to eat, you're learning to cook and you're enjoying it. Now that you're better, and of age, I'm able to think about...darker desires of mine."

Harvey licked his lips, eyes darting around. "I'm not saying no...but why should I say yes?"

"I have experience, darling. All the sex you've had is with girls or young women, at best. You need an older woman to teach you the finer points of love-making."

"And...you could? And you'd let me go? If I wanted?"

"If you wanted," she said. "But considering what kind of man you are, I doubt you will."

"Oh yeah? What kind of man am I?" he challenged.

She bit her lip again and watched him follow the action. She smirked. "I think...you're _hungry,"_ and she closed the space between them, grabbing the back of his neck and kissing him passionately. Their lips slid against each other and Harvey brought his hands up to her cheeks, cupping her face. He was tender, but also had a little force, a little bite to him. She felt a laugh bubbling up behind her lips. Adorable boy, thinking that he could ever be in charge of her. She pulled away and he tried to follow, but she put a hand on her chest. "If you're good, there's more where that came from," she said. "But what I really want to do right now, is show you how to properly feel a woman."

Her hands slid on top of his, putting his hands on her shoulders. "These are my shoulders," she said. "They're nice, but there's so much more to feel about me. Where would you like to feel next?"

Harvey hesitantly dragged his hands closer to her collarbone, and she arched her head back, inviting him to touch more. His hands moved lower, lower, until they were resting on her boobs. She arched an eyebrow. "Is this all you want to feel?"

"No..." Harvey said, swallowing. "I just...I want to go slow."

"We can go slow if you need," she allowed, guiding them both to the bed. "Feel me up as I kiss you. And when you're ready, tell me."

Harvey nodded and she leaned in, kissing him. His hands went under her arms and to the arch of her back, and he felt at the curve of her spine, the firm muscle around her shoulder blades. His hands travelled lower, lower, tracing down skin until he got to her boy shorts. She gave him a muffled hum as a reward when he finally grew bold enough to touch her ass. "Good boy," she said. "Finally touching what you've been scared to."

"I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to," he mumbled into her mouth.

She laughed. "Two days ago, maybe, maybe not," she said, tilting her head side to side. "But now..." she leaned in, dotting kisses with each word, "Now you're a man. You can do whatever you want."

"Does that extend beyond the bedroom?" he asked her.

"Mm...depends on what you want to do outside the bedroom," she teased.

He pulled her closer, until the heat was radiating off both of their bodies. "I want to be partners," he said. "Screw all the others and what they say. I can let my parents know I'm moving out. Let the magic find someone else. You're the only one in my life that gives a damn about me. I want to let you know how thankful I am for you saving me."

"Is the irony of me being the villain lost on you? Because I only like smart men," she playfully jabbed.

"The heroes were pushing me to be perfect," he mumbled, kissing her for a few moments before saying, "You allowed me to be perfectly imperfect, and for that, I can't thank you enough."

"The pleasure's all mine," she said lightly, capturing his lips in another kiss.

Harvey felt her up more, hands moving from her as to the back of her thighs, then around the front. She shivered as he touched lightly around where her legs met her hips. "If it's all right with you...I'd like to fuck you now," he said.

She hummed. "Lie back on the bed," she said. "Put your head between my thighs."

Harvey frowned, but did so.

She shimmied off her boyshorts. "You ever have someone facesit on you before?" she asked.

"No?" Harvey said.

"You ever eat someone out?" she asked.

Harvey laughed incredulously, red in the face as he nodded.

"This is a little like that," she said. "Just oral. If you trust me enough to do it bare. If not, I can find a dental dam..."

She didn't even get to finish the second half of that thought before Harvey grabbed her thighs, pushed her down on top of him and started licking around her lips. She shuddered. "Oh, you _do_ know how to give oral," she breathed. "Good boy. I was worried for a moment that I'd have to teach you and spend all this time talking."

Harvey didn't respond verbally, just licked a little closer to her holes. She was already wet from Harvey's surprisingly educated oral. He was licking up every drop he could get from her and he hummed. "You know, you taste delicious," Harvey said absently as he readjusted.

She burst out laughing. "That's not the first time I've been informed of that, but that's probably the most straight-forward way I've ever heard it," she said between gasps.

Harvey smirked. "Glad I could amuse you, Miss. I certainly thought you might like to know."

"It is always nice to know I haven't lost my touch," she purred.

With a finger tracing light circles on her thigh that made her shiver whenever they got too close to her mound, Harvey asked, "Are you okay if I fuck you with my fingers?"

"Oh, please do," she breathed.

He positioned one finger at her opening and slowly slid it in. She hummed, her fingers traipsing their way down to her clit to gently massage it. Rarely could she get off from penetration alone, but she was always willing to do some of the work provided she got to share the reward. Harvey was twisting his finger around, feeling her out. As he pushed down more towards her colon, she gasped. "Oh, fuck, that felt good," she breathed.

"I bet it does," he said, voice somewhat husky. "You know, I'd be willing to bet that I could fist you if I really tried. I'd be able to stretch you until I could fit my whole hand in there, and twist as I went in and out, making you squirm, making you beg..."

"I don't beg," she scoffed, one hand grabbing his hair so they were looking at each other in the eyes. "I get what I want, when I want it. Or _you_ deal with the consequences."

Harvey swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "Oh," he said softly. "I see."

She noticed he had stopped using his finger and she lightly smacked his ass. "Keep fucking me, or I'll spank you," she threatened with a grin.

"Yes, ma'am!" he managed to strangle out, before going back and shoving his finger as deep inside her as he could.

She hummed and said, "You _can_ add another, if that's not too fast for you."

He did so and she sighed, all the tension leaving her body. "Fuck," she groaned. "I haven't had a fucking this good in forever."

"We should make these a regular thing, then," he said. "I'd hate to deal with you being crabby because you haven't had good dick or hands lately."

"Are you asking me out, mister?" she laughed.

"And if I am?" he challenged.

The two of them stared at each other a moment. In the distance, a siren pierced the city air. Silence floated around the room, but it wasn't heavy nor suffocating. It was contemplative, wrapping curious tendrils around each of them, watching to see who would break it first. She cleared her throat. "I suppose...I would accept," she said primly. "But only if your fucking is as good as you claim it is."

"What, this doesn't tell you that?" he asked with a laugh.

"This, my dear," she said with a smirk. "Is just a start."

"How do I get to the finish?" Harvey asked.

"Wow, gee, I really don't know," she snarked. "It couldn't _possibly_ be with both of us _finishing,_ now, could it?"

"No need to be an asshole," he laughed. "I thought that was my job."

"Oh, you like pegging?" she asked.

Harvey turned deep red and didn't respond.

She laughed hard enough to push his fingers out of her. He let out a weak chuckle with her. "Dear, you could have said!" she exclaimed. "I have some things in the closet if you'd like?" she asked.

"I'm...I'm good, for now," Harvey said. "I'm perfectly happy just fingering you."

"Does that bring _you_ any satisfaction?" she asked.

"I mean...a little," he said. "I can take care of you and then you can take care of me. Isn't that how a relationship works?"

"True," she allowed, sitting back a little further and spreading her legs in front of him. "Want to go back to it, then?"

He got on his stomach and pushed three fingers into her and she hummed. It wasn't much, but it was enough for now. The girth of a small cock that she could play with. He was moving around inside her, just experimenting. She made sure to not hide any noises she made when something felt good or something was uncomfortable, because she needed him to know he was doing well or poorly and he couldn't read her well enough to understand that yet just by her face.

Then he stuck a fourth finger in, and she sighed happily. "That feels good," she moaned.

"I'm glad," he said. "Because I wasn't sure if you were going to fit it."

"I'm a size queen, darling, I like big. I like being stretched," she informed him.

"Good to know," he replied. "Mind if we try the whole fist?"

"By all means," she said.

Harvey took out all his fingers and then made the appropriate shape, sliding himself in. She moaned outright, and not even an attempt at hiding it would have fully hidden how good that felt. The fullness, the warmth, it was something she hadn't gotten in a long while and she had been craving it. She sighed, breathy and loud as he twisted his hand around inside her. "God, yes," she breathed. "Don't stop, keep at it!"

He moved in and out just a bit, twisting as he did so, and he must have really liked the noise she made at that, because he kept doing it and she kept moaning. She bit her lip at one point, nervous that the neighbors might hear—she didn't want a reputation, after all. But Harvey kissed her and murmured, "Don't stop. I like hearing you," and she realized that despite what anyone else may think, that if she was having fun, that was enough. Others could talk. She would still get the last laugh, and the boy toy all to herself.

She moved her fingers back to her clit and played with it. It was erect at this point, perfect for flicking and tapping at first and then teasing herself with slow, agonizing circles, before going back to the fast, hard action she loved.

"I'd love to shove my nose into your cunt one of these days," Harvey murmured. "All hot and wet and dripping. I want to make you come from just the feeling of my face on your lips. It might be unrealistic, but I'd love to try."

"I'd love to watch you," she breathed. He was moving faster, but not fast enough. She wanted him slamming into her, she wanted to feel pushed to her limit. She wanted it all. "Faster, move faster," she instructed.

He obliged, and she could feel herself getting awfully close to the edge. She wanted to dive in, head over heels, and lose herself in the ecstasy. But she needed to know something else, first. "Will you stay with me?" she asked. "Come what may, will you come back so that we can be together?"

"There's nothing else I would rather do," Harvey said sincerely. "I love you, Bea. And I want to follow you to the ends of the earth."

"Then fuck me like you mean it, and don't stop until I tell you to," she instructed.

He slammed into her as hard as he was daring to, and she tapped at her clit before pressing into it, hard, and she could hear the high, keening whine that almost became a scream as she came long and hard from the feeling. Panting, she lowered her body from where it had arched up onto the bed again, and she gave herself a moment to just stare at the ceiling. Harvey was here. Harvey was with her. And he was never, ever leaving.

She crawled forward on the bed and looked over his cock. "What are you thinking about?" she asked. "Would you prefer oral? Me riding you? A handjob? Any or all of the above?"

He swallowed, looking her over. "You're beautiful," he murmured. "And right now, I want your beautiful lips on my cock."

"Pushy," she hummed. But she fondled his balls until his cock was fully erect, and she kissed the tip of it.

Her tongue slid around the head, teasing him as much as she wanted, before she decided to dive onto him, hand still fondling to give him more than one sensation to focus on. Harvey groaned, and she resisted the urge to grin, knowing he might not want teeth just yet. She pulled him in a little further, before experimenting with a nip. He yelped, and she came off him. "Was that too much?" she asked.

"No," he said, his whole face red as a tomato. "That felt...really good, actually."

She hummed. "I didn't take you for a masochist, Harvey."

"Neither did I, to be honest," he said. "Could you. Um. Do that again?"

She smirked and went back down on him, rubbing her teeth into his foreskin. He groaned, his legs twitching, and she knew that he was close to coming already. She removed her hand from his balls and went back to his head, giving it another kiss before kissing all up and down his shaft without actually taking him in. "Make me come," he growled.

"It's cute how you think that you're in charge," she giggled, running a hand down his cheek and tapping it lightly. "Trust me, my dear. If we ever get more serious, then _I_ will be the one in charge. Clear?"

"You've never wanted to give up the reigns?" he asked her.

"Oh, sure, plenty of times," she said with a wink. She leaned up to whisper in his ear, "But not with you, and not tonight."

He growled but she just threw him a saucy smile. "Still, you were good for me and didn't keep me waiting, not that you could if you wanted to, since I had my hands free. It wouldn't be fair to draw this out an unreasonable amount for you."

She went down on him again, tongue making swirling loops where possible, and soon, Harvey's legs were twitching again. She pulled off of him with a suctioned _pop_ right as he came, getting the splatter all over her face. He was instantly on top of her. "Oh my god, are you okay?! I'm so sorry!"

"Harvey—Harvey!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Harvey, I'm fine. I like that sort of thing. That's why I got off you when I did. I could tell you were close and I wanted it. You're not bad for doing that, especially if I wanted it. Okay?"

He nibbled his lip. "Okay, I guess," he allowed. "You're sure you're fine?"

"It didn't get in my eyes," she swore, making an 'x' on her heart. "I can wash up by myself, or you can come with me. It's up to you."

"I'll come with you," he said.

She lead him to the en suite where she wet a towel and cleaned her face up as he washed his hands. "Educational?" she asked him.

"Much more than any sex ed class," he replied.

"Good," she said.

Silence enveloped them for a while. It wasn't stifling, but comfortable. She could see herself spending a long time with Harvey, if he so chose. "You going off to college this fall?" she asked.

"I was considering it," he said. "Not sure I will. Wouldn't be as nice without you there."

"I could come with you," she offered. "Two of us, together, sharing an apartment? The sex and the food would be fantastic, and I could keep an eye on you. You could also keep an eye on me, if you still want to do the whole 'hero' thing."

"Nah," he said, looking at her in the mirror. "I tried to use the magic this morning. It didn't work. Guess I came of age trapped in a metaphorical dungeon and the magic decided I had outlived my use to it. It went off to find another boy to use."

"Just as well," she said. "I hated having you struggle with the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"It wasn't great," he agreed. "Did a hell of a number on my blood pressure."

"I bet," she laughed. "Do you want one more meal before I let you go?"

"...Sure," he agreed. "What do you have in mind?"

"A five-bean chili," she said. "I froze it a while ago, in the hopes that I would have company over. If you think you're up to it, we can share it. It always tastes better after having been frozen and then thawed; all the flavors start to blend together to make a more harmonious experience."

"You should have gone to culinary school, with that sort of enthusiasm for food," he informed her.

"Who's to say I didn't?" she asked with a wink.

They went to the kitchen and she worked on thawing the chili as he set up the table. "Might take a while for the chili to thaw, let alone warm up," she warned him.

"Ah, that's fine. You can return me later tonight," he said, waving his hand.

"What if I don't want to return you?" she asked.

"Do you really want to risk some teen having just gained magical powers possibly walk in on us having fun to try and establish himself as a hero?" Harvey warned.

"No," she sighed. "But I do want this chili."

"We can have the chili," he told her. "I'm just warning you that we can't do anything else today without risking being walked in on."

She sighed. "Well, maybe we can scrounge up the stuff for a small cake, to celebrate your coming of age."

"Sure," he laughed. "Sounds great."

The two of them worked on the cake, throwing fake barbs at each other and discussing Harvey's future plans, and where she could fit into them. She was thinking about it, whether or not she even wanted to continue this relationship. But if Harvey wasn't going to leave her, she wasn't willing to look a gift horse in the mouth. And all the local colleges weren't great. He'd have to move if he wanted to something other than culinary school, which she suspected he did.

Instead on mulling on that for too long, she decided to surprise Harvey with the last of the cake making, meaning she wouldn't let him help decorate. She sent him to the guest room as the cake cooled, and she iced it quickly, wanting to get to the message on top. When she had the base done and sprinkles put on, she wrote the message, "Happy birthday to my favorite nemesis!" in loopy lettering.

She brought it to him and he did a double-take at the message. "I'm your favorite?" he asked. "What about Henry?"

"Henry was a good man," she said. "A great fighter, and a good player when it came to our game. But he's gone, and it's time to move forward. It's time for both of us to recover. And I think...had he still been around to this day, I would have never met you. And I'm not sure if I could have lived with that."

He turned pink. "Oh...thank you," he said. "Truly, thank you. That's a high honor. I don't know what to say."

"Say you accept so that we can eat this cake!" she exclaimed.

"All right, all right!" he laughed. "I accept. All right?"

She grinned and together they cut the cake and each took a piece. Judging by the way Harvey's eyes fluttered closed, he really enjoyed it. She took a bite and hummed. It wasn't her best work, but it did taste sweeter with company; that couldn't be denied.

The two of them watched a movie and poked little by little at the cake until it was gone. She went out to take care of the chili, and considered undoing the magic-proofing around her apartment. _Not yet,_ she decided. _I want to finish the chili, first._

Harvey helped her warm it up and when it was bubbling, the two of them each took half, which fit about a bowl, and ate. She put sour cream on hers, and he sprinkled some cheese on his. She was so beyond happy that at the very least, he was eating again.

When they finished up and put the dishes in the sink, they stared at each other, trying to figure out what to say. "I guess...this is it, for now," she said.

"I guess so," he parrotted.

The silence this time wasn't exactly awkward, but certainly stifling. He moved forward and hugged her close. "God, I'm gonna miss you until we bump into each other again and we can talk."

"Give me your phone," she instructed.

Without any argument, he did so. She smiled and passed it back after a few quick strokes. "I entered my number," she said. "If you need it, we'll talk. If you don't need it, we'll still talk. Okay?"

"Okay," he said, smiling.

So when she went to suit up as Miss Gearblender, and the new Sir Hightail showed up and took Harvey away, she just shook her head fondly. At least she had saved one of them. And maybe...maybe he had saved her as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments welcome! I love comments!


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